Well ya'll, guess it is finally time for me to crawl out of my pre-Apocalypse hibernation and round up some culture. This past week has put us one Yahtzee dice roll away from nuclear, civil and race war. The stumpy fingers of mediocrity have tweeted us into the eye of the hate storm that has been bubbling over from the origins of this country all the way to the day when we started singing "My president is black". Current mood is a tepid blend of unease, defeat and rage - but thankfully we have some important moments in black culture to lift our spirits. We're still the greatest to do whatever we're doing...that's why they're so mad...

1. Serena Williams grand slams her 50's themed baby shower

Serena Williams doesn't know how to do anything except win - so no surprise at all when pictures from the baby shower had us all wide-eyed with FOMO. Posted with the hashtag #ShakeRattleandRoll2017, the photos from this event were pure melanin magic. The guest list included Kelly Rowland, La La, Ciara & of course, her sister Venus. All decked out in adorable poodle skirts and their rockabilly best. Serena hasn't exactly been able to enjoy this joyous pregnancy in peace, with the typical hateration concerning everything from her fiance to the celebration of her new bundle to be (because how dare black women be happy about anything). I am so happy to see here celebrating anyhow, and reminding the masses just how little effs she gives about their opinion. Do it big, Serena! The world can never have enough beautiful brown superstars.2. Insecure Season 3 is a GO! Existence Extended.

Insecure is....it just is. It's hilarious, important, on point, groundbreaking, necessary. All of it. And can we please just touch on how perfect the makeup/hair/lighting/writing/wardrobe/set design is? A constant reminder of the magic that can happen when black minds are able to tell black stories - no ashy foundation and value brand u-parts here - we know what we need. Last week, the cast gave us a glimmer of light in a dark world when she let is know that Insecure has been renewed for a third season. Issa and crew have done an amazing job at creating layered, fully functional characters who burst open both white and black opinions and assumptions of what a black character is. I am so happy that Issa and team will continue to have a platform to blow all of our minds for another season.

3. Turns out Usher doesn't have herpes, but body shaming is still running rampant

Although I'm still not convinced, apparently U-S-HER RA-YM-OND doesn't have herpes. Just three days ago, media outlets were still reporting that the singer was doing totally normal things, like getting coffee or walking down the sidewalk, "amid herpes lawsuit scandal". When the first woman came forward, stating that she had been with Usher and contract the STD, all eyeballs were on the singer to explain himself. Then came Quantasia Sharpton, the third woman to come public with her story about a sexual tryst with Usher after one of his shows were he pulled her on stage. Then hotel staff confirmed they saw Usher there, while his staff swears he was too busy touring and falling in love with his wife to even think about cheating (longest eye roll in history). Usher even went as far as stating that while he may have pulled her up on stage (said he "looks to bring a diverse group of people up onstage, not just supermodels" as an "esteem booster"), that she was not his type. Regardless of the validity of Sharpton's claim, her body type and physical appearance should not have instantly negated her story. This whole story opened up this underlying issue with how the public views women, their sexuality, their bodies and the bearer of blame when something goes wrong.

4. Watching Luna watch her dad on Sesame Street gave us much needed smiles

Luna Legend is adorable. And watching her face as she watched her dad's appearance on Sesame Street was almost weep-worthy. It was the perfect mixture of confusion and joy at how her daddy was suddenly on the TV, with Elmo while also being right next to her. So precious, and a reminder that the hand-basket to Hell that we seem to be on at least has some good video clips to ease the ride. 5. "Die-Hard Hip-Hop Heads" come out the woodwork for Google Doodle celebration

I will admit that I often get caught up in the hype of Google Doodles. Things that I normally have no thought or opinion about suddenly seem important when Google provides some animation and music to keep me interested. Seems like I am not alone in this bandwagon behavior when Friday's Google doodle celebrated the 44th anniversary of the birth of hip-hop. All of my social media timelines were filled with people going in on deep love of hip-hop. Eyeballs emoji to some of you, but I don't know your life so - carry on.

6. @YesYoureRacist, and nothing is more American than white supremacy

As many of us slept (or partied #liveyourbestlife) on Friday night, crowds of white supremacists gathered on the campus of UVA for a "Unite the Right" rally. With visuals from every Civil Rights Era film you have ever seen, these millennial KKK groups raided every Home Depot in the Virginia area to buy up all the citronella tiki torches and hit the streets. Sans mosquito bites, these white men wreaked havoc over the moving (NOT REMOVAL) of a Robert E. Lee statue in a now re-named park in Charlottesville. Unfortunately, they also brought assault rifles, bats, and centuries of displaced white rage in attack against counter-protesters - many of whom were students at the university, citizens of the town and local clergy. In a testament to the quickness of social media, the twitter account @YesYoureRacist, started by Logan Smith, began to post images of supremacists from the rally - including their personal social media accounts, hometowns and sometimes place of employment. The account called for these men to be fired and charged in the instance of assault. We have heard of some losing their jobs in connection to being made public by the account. Guess that is why the KKK wears hoods, huh? Twitter makes it a lot harder to engage in violent racist rallies over the weekend and return to your desk job on Monday. Boo hoo.

7. Amanda Seales brings her schooling side-eye to Harper's Bazaar

Amanda Seales has been on the scene for decades. The deejay, turned radio personality, turned comedian, turned actress - the list literally goes on. Since dropping "Diva" from her stage name of yesteryear, Seales has really been dropping all the knowledge from her Instagram now all the way to Harper's Bazaar. In her straight-forward, no sugar coating way Amanda explains the subtle differences between cultural nuances like buying in versus selling out. In her recent interview on the Breakfast Club, she talked about her want to make people laugh while making them change - there are many conversations to be had. I'm here for it. Oh, and she is hilarious as "Tiffany" on Insecure, hope we get to see more of her ultimate bougie character in these upcoming seasons.

8. Black Merck CEO backs out of the stale cheetos' manufacturing council - because DUH.

Last week, April Ryan (accused enemy of the White House - which makes her a friend of mine) tweeted what we have been saying most of our black lives: "what is wrong with these folks?" Folks in general. Black and white folks - it's all just a mess. It seems like Kenneth Frazier, black CEO of Merck & Co. pharmaceutical company, finally snapped out of the sunken place and realized that being anywhere close to this "administration" equals swift and brutal death. Obviously tiny fingers tweeted a silly response about the exit being connected to embarrassment to not adhering to this pretend American manufacturing he is working on. After the very intentional statement from the White House regarding the riots over the weekend, Frazier backed out of 45's manufacturing council with many other CEOs followed suit. He commented that he acted both as CEO and "as a matter of personal conscience". The CEOs of Intel & Under Amour have since stepped down - but Frazier is black. So while I'm not caping for his sudden bout of "do right"-ness, his exit mattered. Normalizing this administration is literally costing us lives - keep resisting.

9. Please feast your eyes on the color formerly known as purple

A new shade of purple has been created by the color experts over at The Pantone Color Institute, in collaboration with Prince's estate. The official name of the color is the symbol that the artist changed his name to later in his career - but since symbols are hard to say, we can call it "Love Symbol #2". This color will now be the consistent shade used in connection to the artist and his continuing legacy, brand and estate. Any way that he can live on in our lives sounds like a good idea to me.

We made it through another week in this alternate reality we call America. While my news alerts look like articles straight from The Onion, there were some important moments in black culture that I don't feel like got enough shine last week. Time to celebrate, side eye, and click through the top moments from last week. Looking black at it...

1. Boycott Breakfast Club

The Breakfast Club has been pretty trash for awhile (and no, I don't mean the 1985 teen movie - it has some very problematic themes and total lack of diversity, but that's for another time). iHeart Radio produced and New York Power 105's popular morning radio show, is known for pushing all the limits. I mean, the show bills itself as "the world's most dangerous morning show" so it shouldn't be a huge surprise when conversations get nasty. Last week on the show, comedian Lil Duval "joked" that if he found out he had been with a trans woman, "she would have to die". This was a few days after trans advocate and author, Janet Mock was a guest on the show. As the clip of Duval made its way around the internet, #BoycottBreakfastClub began trending on Twitter. As the number of trans women (particularly women of color) who are murdered by cis men rises by the day, this comment was anything but a joke to the trans community and their allies. Things came to a head when one of the co-hosts, Charlamage was interrupted during Politicon by Ashlee Preston (Wear Your Voice Magazine) & Patrisse Cullors (co-founder of Black Lives Matter), calling out the host for laughing at the murder and abuse of trans women. The show has been objectifying and degrading women since it's beginning - perhaps it's finally time to stop covering dangerous misogyny with the comedy excuse. Women are dying, it can't "just be a joke".

On the heels of the well-deserved communal eye roll towards HBO regarding "Confederate" still being a thing, Amazon gave us the best counter news ever. The streaming service is developing a series called "Black America", from the minds behind Boondocks & Straight Outta Compton. The new series will imagine an alternate reality where newly freed African Americans have received Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama as reparations for slavery. Named New Colonia, this new sovereign nation attempts to shape its identity amongst a tumultuous relationship with its neighboring nation, U.S. Amazon definitely picked the right time to make this announcement and gain all the clicks of those of us not interested in imagining a world where white supremacy reigns supreme (and when I say "imagine", I really mean open our eyes in the morning and see a 2017 reality). An account of the black experience told from black mouths is exactly what we need more of. Sources say that the show is in active development - as if we need another reason to renew that Prime membership.

3. Whole Foods goes peak millennial and of course, Drake is involved

Drake, Whole Foods, and Matchabar. Name a more millennial trio - I'll wait. Matchabar announced that they will partner with Whole Foods to launch a new bottled matcha drink with the help of Drake, who is one of the company's main investors. The brand lives by the motto "good things come to those who hustle", and feels that the rapper really embodies this mantra. I don't drink matcha or shop at Whole Foods but I couldn't miss out on discussing this trifecta of bougie hipster interests, all rolled into one trendy green tea package.4. We (re)learn about Kenya's No Man's Land - and start looking for plane tickets

Two years ago, VICE's women's interest channel shared the story of Kenya's women's-only village. Last week, the story resurfaced on Twitter and sparked a conversation about the many, many benefits of women removing themselves from a patriarchal culture. The full documentary is totally worth the watch. And while this isn't new news, I don't remember hearing much about it two years ago and think it is ever pertinent now is this dystopian reality we seem to be sliding in to. Not to go all he-woman man hater but....girls only living sounds pretty great.5. Our permanent POTUS celebrates his 56th birthday

We woke up on Friday morning to a social media wide celebration of our forever president for his birthday. The hashtag #ObamaDay was trending all day, and most of Twitter was taking the time to simultaneously cheer and cry as we remember what it used to be like to have a real president. Barack seems to be living the best version of his life since his break up with our dusty ole' country - and we don't blame him! He and Lady Michelle have eight plus years of intense criticism and hateful racism to wash out of their hair. Happiest of birthdays, Mr. President. We miss you!6. Jay-Z drops a video for "Moonlight" and it's PERFECTION

4:44 - Jay Z's latest platinum project, has been the talk of all the online towns since its release early July. And in true Tidal click bait fashion, the artist is slowly releasing new content every few days. Successfully making those of us whose free trial ran out, really considering actually paying to stream music. Most recently, he released the video for his song "Moonlight" - which was an AMAZING 6-minute re-imagining of "F.R.I.E.N.D.S" with the best and blackest cast ever. Issa Rae (Rachel), Tiffany Haddish (Phoebe), Tessa Thompson (Monica), Jerrod Carmichael (Ross), Lil Rel Howery (Joey) and Lakeith Stanfield (Chandler) take on the iconic roles and remind us just how much the original show lacked any trace of diversity. The opening couch scene, now set to "Friends" by Whodini, tells you everything you need to know about how great this video is. And since we all know Friends was really just a Living Single white-wash and rip off, seems only right we would finally see some type of send-up for the culture.7. Our bestie in our mind kills it in her new Netflix movie, "The Incredible Jessica James"Full disclosure: I binge listen to Two Dope Queens pretty frequently and will definitely sound like a stan in this blurb. You have been warned. I am a little late to the indisputable knowledge that Jessica Williams is a national treasure. She is young, and woke, and funny and showing that blackness and women-ness and black woman-ness are not monolithic by any means. We have layers, we are complicated, we are boring - we are everything. Her new Netflix film, The Incredible Jessica James, does just that with its quirky tone and call back to all things 90's rom-com. The title character is pretty much all of us trying to navigate dating, careers and battling subway man spreading all while faux adulting as much as possible. Playwright Sarah Jones makes a quick yet profound cameo in the movie where she imparts this wisdom on James that seems pretty "meaning of life": "You love it, and you're doing it. That's kind of it." Watch this movie. More than once. Then come super fan over Jessica Williams with me.

Busting out from another totally unintentional hibernation from blogging, I am excited to be back with new content for A Nu Creature. I have been doing some writing here and there on the Internets, mostly about culture and black hair, and thought "I want to write more, about more!" And what better place to do that than my own site. I want to continue to talk fashion, faith & fros - but add in important culture moments that are on our minds (and social media hashtags). Every Monday (fingers crossed), I will be posting a roundup of my top black culture moments that you may have missed from the week before. With all of the horrible news going on, there can never be enough black excellence celebrations. So here we go...the very first edition of "Look Black At It". Enjoy!

1. Girls Trip breaks the box office

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Unless you have been doing a social media detox for the last few weeks, you know that Girls Trip has been all up and through everyone's reviews, shout outs and think pieces. Malcolm D. Lee's latest comedy stars some of our lifelong faves: Jada Pinkett Smith and Queen Latifah - alongside some newer faces, Regina Hall (Scary Movie franchise) and Tiffany Haddish (The Carmichael Show). The R-rated comedy had the highest grossing opening weekend of any 2017 live-action comedy. The numbers after its second weekend in theatres report that the film is still going strong, raking in another $20 million - solidifying its spot as this year's breakout comedy. I have my own thoughts and reviews of the movie (planning to write about them at some point, so stay tuned), but endless claps for this all-girl, all-black leading cast breaking records.

Honestly. Truly. Our favorite messy b**** who lives from drama is getting her own show! Branden Miller (the brains behind Joanne) announced the news last week on Janet Mock's new podcast, "Never Before". Miller quickly mentioned that "someone from Netflix" was currently writing the show, with the series focusing on fleshing out some of the scams we have seen on Joanne's Instagram. The general assumption was that the series would be on Netflix. However, other sources have since suggested that a writer from "Master of None" is working on the series - with no set buyers confirmed yet. While it doesn't sound like this will show up on our queue anytime soon, just the thought of watching Ms Prada during our next binge watch is enough to get excited. iCONic.

3. "The Talk" gets real and makes all of our eyes sweatGIPHYProcter & Gamble relaunched their "My Black is Beautiful" initiative this week with a 2-minute video called "The Talk". The company's website explains the 2007 initiative as a "community celebrating the diverse collective beauty of black women", created by "a group of visionary black women" who worked at P&G. The ad campaign address just a few of the very tough conversations that black parents have to have with their black children, including racial slurs, discrimination and police brutality. The video tackles a lot in a short amount of time and does bring to light the heartbreaking reality of having to warn black children of injustice from a very young age. MBIB added the hashtag #TalkAboutBias to this campaign. I hope that non-black viewers take the content to heart and working on stopping the bias with their children while we are talking about it with ours. 4. Diddy shouts out black women...and boy did the white whine flowGIPHYThursday afternoon, Diddy posted this simple tweet: "Shout out to black women, just because..." The thread instantly turned #AllWomenDeserveShoutOuts, with many users asking why Diddy had to include race. In his tweet. On his timeline. About women in his race. I am not sure why black people celebrating each other is so threatening but apparently, seven words of celebration can spark three days and counting of backlash. Diddy has made no comment - no further explanation needed. And we can't forget when he cropped those girls out of his black squad Met Gala picture before posting - I don't know what Diddy is up to professionally these days, but we see you, Puff. 5. Janelle Monae & Zoe Kravitz lend those flawless faces to Tiffany & Co.GIPHYThese two women are beyond gorgeous on their own. But put them together as two of the newest faces of a classic luxury brand, and we get sheer magic. Tiffany & Co. revealed their first campaign since the start of their new head of design, and these two lovelies were amongst the six celebrities featured. The new campaign is called "There's Only One", and focuses on the "singular style, personal strength, and imaginative vision". Spot on in choosing these two very unique, innovative queens to embody that focus. Do you guys remember when we heard that those Tiffany & Co chain necklaces used to be used for slave collars? Oh, the joys of internet rabbit holes. 6. You have something of Auntie Maxine's, and she's here to take it backGIPHYLast week was also the week that we gained the mantra for the rest of our lives, especially when hit with the dreaded mansplain. "Reclaiming my time" will forever be in the vocabularies of anyone smart enough to know just how magical Congresswoman Maxine Waters really is. During the White House Financial Services Committee hearing, Queen Maxine asked Nacho Cheese Doritos' treasury secretary about his lack of "do anything"-ness in responding to requests concerning financial ties to Russia. He tried to let the clock run out with some lazy compliments and mediocre mumbles, and Auntie Maxine said "boy bye". We all learned an important lesson about taking back what belongs to us. Replace "time" with "life/happiness/passion/purpose/joy/fries" - anything. We are reclaiming it all. 7. We said #NoConfederateGIPHYDuring the airing of last night's newest Game of Throne's epi, many took to Twitter to support the show while expressing their thoughts on the newest show from its creators. A few weeks ago, we learned that the duo behind GoT got the green light for their new show - a "slave drama" about an America where the Confederacy won. In response to the protest hashtag urging HBO to pull the series, the network released a comment. They addressed the concern, but remained supportive of the writers' ability to "approach the subject with care and sensitivity". Slavery. Careful and sensitive slave alternate reality...not convinced, HBO. By the end of GoT, #noconfederate had reached number one on Twitter's trending topics. Doesn't seem like the network is ready to ditch the idea, but the people have spoken.

It was been an insane amount of time since I last posted. What started as just a short break at the beginning of 2017, snowballed into three full months of getting caught up in other things - and time just kept on ticking by. This has been a difficult year so far, but I can honestly say that God gives me a sneak peak of light and the life to come every day. Sometimes that light is literally just a sunny day after weeks and weeks of clouds. Part of my morning prayer is to ask God what is distracting me from his goodness that day - and for his help to allow me to notice those small reminders that not a day flutters by when he is not moving and working the details of my life for his good.

"So we're not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace" 2 Corinthians 4: 16-17 MSG